


Emotions? I've Heard of Them

by teikouarc



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Death, pidge is here but not a Lot so I don't want to tag her, rating change mostly bc its kinda bleak?, s4 compliant, the comfort will come I assure you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-21 18:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12463641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teikouarc/pseuds/teikouarc
Summary: It was just Keith, after all. Keith, the person they accidentally stumbled into space with. His (failed) rival and (recent) friend. Keith, the person he had breakfast with and joked with. Keith, the guy who laughed at said jokes more often than Lance had expected (andgodthat always felt so good). Keith, the person who had walked out of the Castle of Lions a week ago and still… hadn't come back, or tried to contact any of them.Maybe it was a bad idea to reach out to him.-Lance confronts some things in the aftermath of Keith leaving Voltron.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this was meant to be a simple texting fic and its kinda growing into something more than that

"Okay, so, just to make sure: it's cool for me to send messages with this, right? Like, they won't get intercepted or any of that junk?"

"Yeah, yeah," Pidge groaned, tired from the endless chatter she had been subjected to for the past two hours. "You're good to go. It's FINE, Lance."

Lance fidgeted with his phone next to her anxiously, eyes jumping from it to her rapidly. Pidge valiantly continued tapping away on her computer for a few more moments as he hovered before she shut her laptop, stood up in one fluid motion, and began shoving him towards the door.

"Go message your girlfriend Lance." Pidge punctuated her statement with one hard, final shove through the doorway.

"IT'S NOT A GIRLFRIEND!" Lance managed to shout back before the doors _swooshed_ shut behind him.

 

-

 

It really wasn't a girlfriend. It wasn't even a girl at all, and he could have explained that to Pidge very easily. But he didn't. He just… didn't, for some reason. And that fact had him sitting on his bed, staring at his existing (almost completely empty) messaging window with Keith.

It was just Keith, after all. Keith, the person they accidentally stumbled into space with. His (failed) rival and (recent) friend. Keith, the person he had breakfast with and joked with. Keith, the guy who laughed at said jokes more often than Lance had expected (and _god_ that always felt so good). Keith, the person who had walked out of the Castle of Lions a week ago and still… hadn't come back, or tried to contact any of them.

Maybe it was a bad idea to reach out to him.

Lance sighed and drummed his fingers against his knee as he thought. The way Keith had left hadn't been... good. Not that there would've really been a _great_ way probably, but who knows? He'd been so sad. That had made Lance sad. And then when he said he was leaving, there was a sense of relief to him. He smiled and they all hugged. Which was great and all, but that made Lance even _sadder_. There was a big Keith shaped hole on the ship, and it was just… sad.

His fingers sped up anxiously.

Plus, him of all people? Lance being the one to reach out to Keith to check in? Checking in on people was kind of Lance's _thing_ but his relationship with Keith was different than he was used to. The way he showed he cared was—well "cared" was kind of a strong word—but they were friends, right? Yeah, they were friends, it wasn't weird to care about your friends—but WERE they friends?

Lance groaned as he flopped backwards, dragging his hands down his face. Relationships—friendships—weren't supposed to be this complicated. Usually it was so easy? Cut and dry. Did this person want to be friends with him? Yes or no, with usually no in between. Keith, on the other hand? Well... Keith had never been a very easy guy to deal with. He existed to throw Lance's life out of balance, apparently.

“Get it together, Lance…”

At the end of the day, even if Keith didn’t think they were friends, they had been a team, right? There wasn't anything strange about reaching out to an old teammate just to make sure they were doing okay. There wasn't!

Lance sat up again quickly, grabbed his phone-equivalent, and typed out a quick "hey man how are you doing" and sent it before he could rethink it again.

As the seconds after "send" ticked by, regret began nibbling at the edges of his mind. He slid his phone underneath his pillow before putting on his headphones and tried not to think about it very much.

Yeah, it was better that Pidge and the others didn't know about this.

 

-

 

Two and a half hours into his relaxation playlist, which wasn't helping him relax at all, Lance was startled by his pillow glowing brightly.

"Damn," he mumbled, sliding off his headphones. "I knew the screen was bright but that's..." Lance trailed off, mouth turning up into a small pout as he considered the pillow and the phone he knew was underneath it.

"Best case scenario, it's Keith. Or maybe that's not the best case scenario. Uh." He spoke out loud to his room, not making any moves to retrieve the device. "Okay, okay. Best case scenario, it's Keith AND he actually responded. It could be him, like, yelling at me though. Or telling me not to ever talk to him again. Which, y'know, fair. It could also be Hunk sending me a message for some reason instead of coming to my room. Maybe he's being attacked by food goo again? Oh man."

Lance reached under the pillow, suddenly spurred on by the idea of Hunk being stuck in the kitchen again with killer goo. Lighting the screen up again, it was Keith's name on the message notification, and not Hunk's.

Lance dropped the phone like it had burned him, stiff and staring at the screen for a moment. He took in a deep breath and as he let it out, he forced himself to calm down. This was stupid. It was just Keith.

It was GOOD that he responded. Probably. At least he hadn't ignored him?

 

lance: hey man how are you doing  
keith: ? I'm doing fine?  
keith: Are you doing okay? You never send me messages.  
lance: yea yea i’m good  
lance: just wanted to make sure you didn't get  
lance: like  
lance: stabbed  
lance: or w/e  
keith: Oh? Um.  
keith: No stab wounds so far.  
keith: Well, on me.  
keith: I have stabbed some people. But you know how that goes.  
lance: yep sure do  
lance: you and stabbing just go hand in hand  
lance: just a big fan of stabbing and sharp edges over there  
keith: Haha! Yep.  
lance: yep  
lance: oh whoops sounds like allura is calling us gotta jet  
lance: good luck out there with uh  
lance: the stabbing and other. blade things  
keith: You too. But with shooting and laser bullets. :)

 

Allura was not calling them, and Lance was a liar. He tossed his phone onto his pile of dirty laundry across the room and let himself collapse onto his pillow.

This was probably a mistake.

 

-

 

Lance stumbled out of bed on one of their calmer mornings, still tired as sleep hadn't been coming as easily as it used to. Through miracles of scavenging and Kaltenecker, cereal had become an option again. It was good both because Lance loved it and because it also meant Hunk had more free time to do brainy things with the Brain Squad.

Lance sat himself down in the empty dining hall and dug into his delicious bounty.

He glanced to the seat next to him and wondered when Keith would finally drag himself away from the training hall long enough to get some food in his system. God forbid the guy actually _sleep—_

Ah.

Lance set his spoon back down in his bowl, his appetite suddenly gone.

The room was quiet.

 

-

 

_lance: its quiet without you around|_  
lance: idk how you kept up with altean training tech  
lance: its more than a lil discouraging that someone whos trying to save the universe would lose to an altean child in hand to hand combat  
keith: Well, you're a long distance fighter, and you haven't put in the effort to get better at close quarters before now.  
keith: It's good to hear you're practicing, though.  
keith: How did that happen? Not even Shiro could drag you to the training deck before.  
lance: meh  
lance: had some free time

 

-

 

Lance had a lot of free time, it turned out. It wasn't that they had fewer missions or responsibilities—it was just that, well.... He had never realized how much time he spent with Keith. Time passed quicker, back then. It was traded in for jokes and jabs, training, talking, eating, or games. There had been days when the two of them just sat together in the lounge after missions, decompressing in the easy routine of friendly bickering.

And maybe it wasn't just Keith's absence that left Lance alone. Yeah, that wasn't it entirely.

Of course he would hang out with Hunk and Pidge sometimes. Lately, though, with Matt returning and the Brain Squad being so busy with important universe saving tech and science talk, meeting up with them casually/for fun wasn't really on the table.

Allura, Shiro, and Coran were busy every waking moment it seemed. Which made sense.

Everyone seemed to have all these important things to attend to, things only they could do. Meanwhile, Lance played video games. And when those got too frustrating (that fucking dragon was lucky it was a bunch of fictional pixels, if it was real it'd be a lot less smug after meeting his rifle) he'd go sweat out his stress in the training hall.

His progress was slow, but that had always been the case in anything he picked up. Soon he was training more than playing around. It forced him to concentrate. But the quiet still followed him. In the moments where the silence was impossible to ignore, his mind would wander down the roads he usually avoided.

Was he holding everyone back? _Punch._

Did he even belong here? _Dodge._

Keith had left, which meant 5 paladins for 5 lions, but was that right? _Block._

_Should_ it have been him? _Pause._

But he had talked to Keith about it, and he had reassured him that he belonged here. _Falter._

…Was his ‘math' the reason Keith had left? _Shit—_

Lance took the hilt of the training robot's sword to the gut with a grunt and slid back into the wall with a thud.

“End training sequence!” He gasped out, clutching his stomach and wincing.

Was it his fault? Did Keith leave so he could stay? No, that couldn't be it. Right? They weren't even that close!

…But maybe they were?

All the times they hung around each other, all the times Lance had taken for granted and hadn't had a second thought about until now. Until Keith was gone. Had Keith noticed?

If he had, it wasn't a huge leap to think their conversation had been part of the reason Keith left. Keith was loyal and quiet in his sacrifices for other people. If he thought of Lance as a friend?

Crap.

Crap crap _crap_. Lance groaned, curled up on the floor in a combination of pain and frustration. Keith had started distancing himself almost immediately after their conversation. It had been a matter of _days_. How had he not noticed? Everyone had been so irritated at Keith for ditching them—he hadn't even been _thinking_ —he knew something was up with Keith, but he never would've guessed he would do it because of that! Lance gritted his teeth and hit a closed fist against the floor.

The universe had lost one of the best possible paladins they could've had and it was his fault.

_lance: was i part of the reason you left? did you leave so i could stay a paladin?|_

Lance stared at the blinking cursor, considering the message for a long time before he pocketed his phone with a sigh.

Hours later, when everyone was in bed, he lay awake staring at it once again. Aware that there was probably a better way to approach this, but being too tired and too frustrated (with both Keith and himself) to mull it over any longer, he sent the message. Lance wasn't too surprised when the reply came quickly. Keith never did sleep much.

 

lance: was i part of the reason you left? did you leave so i could stay a paladin?  
keith: The reasoning doesn't matter at this point. Don't worry about it.  
keith: It's better this way.  
keith: You guys are the Team Voltron the universe needs.  
keith: Get some sleep, Lance.  
lance: ...  
lance: yeah. alright

 

Lance didn't get much sleep that night.

 

-

 

Even though Lance didn't bring up the question to Keith himself again, he couldn't get it out of his head. It followed him wherever he went. On missions, at meals, at training, at diplomatic meetings, when he was trying to fall asleep. Every mistake he made seemed bigger than before. Every time he barely scraped through a mission he wondered if Keith would have done better.

And the funny thing was, it was incredibly reminiscent of their time in the Garrison. Working in Keith's shadow, constantly being sized up against him. But it didn't feel even remotely the same as it did back then. It had always made him angry; it spurred him on to try and do better than him despite being so far behind in the eyes of everyone around them.

This time, though, it was almost as if the general opinion was that Lance was somehow the better option. Now, instead of a bullheaded need to prove himself, he noticed every single one of his shortcomings. Why didn't anyone realize Keith had been better? Why hadn't _Keith_ realized that and let Lance step down?

Lance slammed his hand down on Red's control panel with a sudden frustrated shout, sending them jerking to the left during a training exercise.

“Lance, what was that?” Shiro's voice immediately chimed in over the varied noises of surprise from the others.

Red stalled in the air as Lance dragged a hand down his face. “Uh, sorry, I just…” He trailed off, having no idea how to finish that sentence. How exactly did you explain to your superior officer that you hadn't slept in days and couldn't stop thinking about how utterly incapable you are? _Yeah, hey Shiro, sorry about that, it's just that Keith sacrificed his happiness and his home because I bothered him with my insecurities. Everything's good._

Red growled scoldingly in his head. She hadn't been very happy with him the past few days.

Shiro waited long enough to see if Lance would finish his thought, and once it became apparent he wasn't going to, he sighed. “Let's break it off for today. Coran wanted to meet with us about coalition displays. Head back to the Castleship, everyone.”

A small chorus of okays came from the others, and Lance was about to follow suit when an image of Shiro in his cockpit flashed onto his screen. Oh good.

Shiro watched him appraisingly for a moment. “Lance, go ahead and take a minute for yourself. You seem like you need it. Don't be too long, though. We need you in there.”

He didn't wait for a response this time, his image blinking off of his display, replaced with the image of Black flying back towards the ship.

Red stalked around his mind, eager for the chance to fly around off duty. Lance couldn't help but smile, and sighed. “Yeah, alright girl, let's go.” He leaned into the controls and away they went.

They landed on a cliff in the desert just outside of the place they had started to call home. Far enough away that they couldn't see the town starting to form around the castleship, but close enough that they could be there quickly in case of emergency.

He and Red hadn't really connected the way he and Blue had. It wasn't that Blue had liked him more or anything like that, they were just… different.

Blue was friendly and energetic and would bounce her thoughts around his mind freely and openly. Red was quiet. Not reserved, definitely not, just… quiet. She was reckless and loved the feeling of the wind against her body, but didn't crowd him. She had accepted him as her pilot, and for her that was enough. Today, though, she reached out for him.

_Paladin, do you doubt my decision?_

Lance furrowed his eyebrows in surprise. “Your decision?”

_For you to be my pilot_ , she clarified.

Lance blinked. “No, I—I know you wouldn’t ever pick someone wrong.”

_Then why do you doubt yourself?_

Lance sat on that one for a moment.

Doubt himself, huh? He ran a hand through his hair. Lance had always made self confidence a priority. Whether genuine or faked, he always wanted to be self assured. But this whole thing with Keith had thrown him off balance.

He had thought about all of this as less doubting himself and more recognizing how important Keith had been to their team.

“…Don't you miss Keith?” He finally asked.

Red pulled back for a moment. But for only a moment. Despite being the fire of Voltron, she felt like a tide in that moment, swelling and hitting him with as much warmth as she could muster. Tears pricked and burned at his eyes from the sudden wave of emotion. The lion spoken of as the most distant, the most picky, the most temperamental; she hit him with the rawest emotion he had ever felt. If being with Blue was like being submerged in an ocean, being with Red was like being in the heart of a fire. Anyone who believed she didn't feel as deeply as the other Lions had a deep misunderstanding of how passionate and overwhelming a fire can be.

_As much as you do, Paladin._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a pretty short update bc I didn't have a lot to do with keith, but I wanted this in here. thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Since leaving Voltron, Keith had been having a recurring nightmare. It was always the same one, every time he closed his eyes.

He was stuck in space, his suit slashed open and his oxygen draining fast. Debris from the ship Regris had been on when it exploded was scattered around him, floating in space as though frozen in time. The display in his mask beeped frantically, each beep making his heart race faster.

He had to get to their ship, but he couldn't move. Unlike when it really happened, Keith was frozen in space like the debris. Why couldn't he move? The ship was _right there_. He knew Kolivan was on the ship, and if he saw Keith floating out here, he might come help. He just had to see him. _Please—_

But he didn't see him, and as the beeping from his mask sped up and his vision started to blur, Keith watched as their ship tore away from the wreckage of the Galra ship.

This was always where he woke up, gasping for air, bangs plastered to his forehead with sweat. Eventually his breathing would slow and his heart rate would go back down to normal levels, but the image stuck with him. It was waiting for him every time he blinked. Somehow, it was more bearable here, with the Blade. Here, where the rooms were dark and lit only by dim purple, it was less painful. Here, it was a reminder to do better. Everyone in the Blade of Marmora understood the mission was greater than any one of them. This was a war, and war had casualties.

Waking up from that nightmare on the Altean ship had been worse. The rooms never got dark enough to be black there. The low blue lighting and the grey walls clashed so obviously with the scene. There was more room to think there, and it was too much. There, he couldn't stop thinking about how it was _his fault_.

If he hadn't been so reckless, so focused on results, maybe Regris would still be alive. Why hadn't he listened to Kolivan? They should have left like he said, they only walked into the trap because Keith insisted they keep going. Why couldn't he, just _once_ in his life, make the right decision? He hadn't even been in charge there and he had still gotten someone killed. What if next time it wasn't with the Blade of Marmora? What if it was one of the people sleeping in the rooms next to him?

How could he live with Pidge's blood on his hands? Or Hunk's? Or Shiro's? Or Coran’s, or Allura's or _Lance—_

He couldn't.

He had come to think of the castleship as “home”. It had been his place to land, where he belonged. But after all that? It twisted and distorted (or maybe _he_ did, but it was all the same in the end) until it didn't fit him anymore. Existing there felt so viscerally incorrect for him while the others all fit so perfectly there. They interacted freely with the backdrop the castle presented and absolutely belonged there. He didn't have a part there, not like them. He'd lost it.

At least with the Blade the only thing expected of him was a willingness to die for the mission. And maybe that was the core difference, in the end.

The Blade was simpler. It accepted death as an inevitable cost they would all have to pay.

Voltron wanted them to live.

That scared the hell out of him.

 

-

 

lance: was i part of the reason you left? did you leave so i could stay a paladin?

Somehow Lance's timing was perfect. Keith had just woken up and had enough time to calm down from the nightmare when he got the message. He stared at the words for a few beats, wondering when Lance had figured it out.

It wasn't the only reason, of course. Keith had been slowly coming to terms with him not belonging there long before Lance had come to him with his concerns. It had helped move things along, though.

At the end of the day, Lance was a team player. He supported the team in a way only he could and was absolutely irreplaceable. It was ridiculous to Keith that he didn't understand that. Knowing that Lance was kind enough to step aside to make things work made Keith's decision easier. If he could do one final good thing for all of them, it would be ensuring that Lance stayed a paladin.

He couldn't let Lance know that, though. Knowing him, it'd make things difficult. Lance belonged there and Keith belonged here. It was simple. Thinking about it any further than that would complicate things, and they didn't need that. There were more important things to worry about.

Lance went to sleep, the conversation put to rest quickly, and Keith sat awake fiddling with his knife. _Just like before._ He allowed himself a small smile. At least some things didn't change.

 

-

 

They did cross paths occasionally. Keith never made an effort to go over and say hi, but he did allow himself to watch them. Every time he would shove down the sadness that popped up and use how well they were doing without him as reassurance that he did the right thing.

Some days he would indulge himself and allow himself to watch Lance in particular for longer than he should. It was hard to tear your eyes away from him, sometimes. His smile was bright like the sun, and he looked so _alive_ while helping people. It was stunning. Why couldn't he see what everyone else saw when they looked at him? He had self confidence, that much was obvious. Yet he didn't realize how important he was? He was a walking contradiction and Keith didn't understand it. He probably never would, at this point. He wondered how many more times they would talk to each other before Keith stepped into another trap to find his luck had run out.

With a glance, Keith realized Allura had caught him staring at them.

…Again.

The first time she had caught him in a stare, it had taken longer for her to put the pieces together. She had learned since then. He felt a small chill run down his neck as she immediately turned to follow his line of sight as if to confirm what she had noticed back then and her gaze landed on Lance. She turned again to look at Keith and they made eye contact again. She furrowed her eyebrows at him in a question, not anger. Keith reached up and activated his mask as he turned to walk away. He didn't have an answer for her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> work owns my ass
> 
> you can find me @teikouarc on twitter if you want to do that. who knows

lance: wait wait wait  
lance: are you telling me NO ONE told you that pidge found matt??????  
keith: Well, I mean, Pidge sent me a really blurry selfie with her and some guy?  
lance: KEITH  
keith: How was I supposed to know?! It's not like she sent an explanation WITH the photo! She just sent the picture and that was it!  
lance: keith  
lance: my buddy my dude my man  
lance: pidge and matt look almost exactly the same  
keith: I repeat. Blurry selfie.  
lance: YOU LOOKED AT BLURRY CRYPTID PHOTOS FOR FUN BACK ON EARTH  
lance: FOR F U N  
lance: YOU SHOULD BE LIKE  
lance: THE BLURRY PIC _DUDE_  
keith: It's not like I knew what Matt looked like!  
lance: his face was on the news for like a solid year???  
keith: You went to my house, Lance! I didn't have a TV!!  
lance: ok ok i’ll give you that one actually  
lance: but still  
lance: wtf  
keith: If you're so shocked by this, why didn't you try and tell me sooner than now?  
lance: idk dude i guess i assumed SOMEONE told you? like that was pretty major news  
keith: You're the only one I've talked to? Pidge has sent me a couple pictures, but that's it. Not that that’s bad, it's just how it is. Everyone has more important things to be doing.  
lance: implying i don't?  
keith: That’s not what I meant.  
lance: suuuuure  
lance: well as it so happens  
lance: i have a big important thing to do right now!  
lance: that i’m going to go do! right now!  
keith: Lance?  
lance: whoops looks like my phone is turning itself off weird

Lance chucked his powered down device onto his bed and stormed out of his bedroom.

Lance already knew that he didn't have big important things to do like everyone else! Keith didn't have to rub it in that he was the only one who occasionally sat around twiddling his thumbs! He was perfectly aware, thank you!!

He made his way to the training deck on autopilot. Trading blows with the drone there had become habit at this point, which wasn't really where Lance saw his life going, but, you know, he hadn't really seen “defender of the universe” in his future either. Life was funny like that.

After he had thoroughly exhausted himself and the reactionary anger had burned off, Lance sat leaned against a wall and mulled over his conversation with Keith. He knew that Keith hadn't made efforts to reach out to them, but hearing confirmation that he really was the only one talking to Keith made him a strange sort of sad.

Keith was partially doing it to himself, he supposed. If he wanted to talk to someone, he should at least try talking to them. But he also understood how awkward it was trying to talk to someone who wasn't trying to talk to you. He had experienced that exact thing himself only a couple weeks ago. There was also the fact that he left like he had... it would be pretty tough reaching out in that position.

What was up with Shiro not trying to talk to him either? Lance didn't know the details of how they knew each other on Earth, but he did know that they considered each other family. Family talked to each other. They had even parted on relatively good terms? Sure it was iffy for a while there, but Shiro seemed happy for him. It probably wasn't Lance's place to pry, though.

Still! The fact remained that the only contact Keith had had with any of them was a couple cryptid Pidge photos and mostly short and unsuccessful text conversations with him.

How lonely was that?

Lance wouldn't be able to stand it. Maybe before they had gotten to know each other better, he would have believed that Keith would be fine with it. After all, he lived in the middle of a desert by himself for who knows how long? Despite that, Lance couldn't help but think Keith might be lonely now. Back then it hadn't been a choice as much as it had been the hand he was dealt. Keith had had a choice here, an option to stay if he wanted to. He had people here who wanted him around. It had to be hard to suddenly be without that when you finally had it, right?

Lance knew he wouldn't be able to do it. Not with the Blade, at least. They were incredible allies and a crucial part of their fight against the Galra Empire, but they were also missing something. It was hard to put into words, but no one there was close. If there wasn't a war keeping them together, he doubted any of them would stay in contact. Not that that was wrong but… Lance certainly wouldn't be able to work like that.

The work they did was so important, but Lance knew he wouldn't be able to do it without the paladins. It wasn't as simple as them needing 5 people to form Voltron. To even get to that point, Lance needed the crappy movie nights they had occasionally. Leaning against Hunk, his warmth and love recharging Lance, while trying to throw popcorn into Pidge's mouth. Drinking milkshakes with Allura and Coran, who eventually tried them again after the Kaltenecker incident. It was all important. The times they spent together, growing closer not just as Team Voltron, but as people, were vital. Did Keith have that anymore? Probably not.

All these thoughts brought Lance's mind back to how he had ended his last conversation with Keith. His stomach soured, and he regretted it. He knew Keith hadn't meant to slight him with his comment. If anything, he was providing an easy reason for him to be forgotten, left behind, and Lance had fed into it. He had stomped off dramatically and left Keith alone again.

Lance pushed himself up off the floor frantically, and ran back to his room. _God I'm suck a jerk._ He accidentally bumped into Pidge on his way back, and threw a quick apology over his shoulder before she could do much more than squawk indignantly at him. He'd have to apologize to her later.

Lance slid into his room, accidentally crashing into one of his walls in his haste. He pushed off with ease and waited anxiously as the phone went through it's long reboot. He chewed on his bottom lip as he opened the messaging application again.

lance: i know you didn't mean what you said before as an insult  
lance: sorry i reacted like that and ditched  
lance: i’ll let you know when things happen over here so pidge's crappy camera skills aren't your only source of info  
lance: god sorry for spamming you so much rn but just one more and then i'll leave you alone promise  
lance: you can talk to me whenever  
lance: since i'll be giving you voltron updates you should give me updates on how things are going on your end too  
lance: and not just about the people you stab  
lance: yknow  
lance: not just “”work”” it can be anything  
lance: you also don't have to if it'll be annoying i just wanted to let you know i'd be ok with it  
lance: ugh sorry that was more than one message i'm going to go throw myself in jail for double texting crimes ttyl

 

-

 

It was a full day before Keith responded, and then another before Lance had time to see the response.

keith: Is double texting a crime? You did do a lot of it, but I don't really mind? You had things to say and I wasn't there to say anything in between.  
keith: You did send a lot of messages, though. You know you can complete a thought in one message, right? You don't have to send it across four+.  
keith: (And. Thanks. I don't know how many updates I'll have, but I'll try.)  
lance: ITS FOR EMPHASIS!!!!!!!!  
keith: ???????????  
lance: THE LINE SPACING  
lance: its  
lance: for  
lance: emphasis  
keith: Riiiiiiiight.  
lance: hey keith did you know there's only one 'i' in right?  
lance: you don't have to send like 4+  
keith: Har har.  
lance: ;^)

Lance was smiling as he put his phone down so he could get ready to pass out for as long he could. It wouldn't be very long considering how the last couple of days had gone, and despite how much he loved being well rested, there was something special about the rush they'd been having. It really felt like they were _doing_ things, you know? Fighting back the Galra was vital, but it felt like they were building people back up finally. Their aid missions were steadily growing in number.

Sure, Lance stepped up to the plate when he needed to. He had been going to school to be a fighter pilot, for god's sake. He had always known fighting would be in his future, he just had never expected it would come in the form it had. But who Lance was as a person, who he was at his core, meant he was at his best when he was helping people; passing out rations, helping to create new communities, building something strong together. It was such important work, and he felt good about it.

On top of all that, he let himself believe he took a step in the right direction with Keith. If he could just help keep the bridge connecting Keith and Voltron from crumbling, that would be enough.

He had accidentally ( _potentially_ , he reminded himself) been the cause of Keith leaving in the first place. Even if it wasn't intentional, he had to take responsibility. Responsibility, he had decided, would be making sure Keith always had a road back to them.

 

-

 

“Okay, you officially cannot make fun of me for things I do anymore!” Lance boasted while strolling into the lounge where Pidge was laying upside down on the couch. She turned her head toward him, an eyebrow raised.

“Oh? This should be interesting.” She said simply, voice dripping with skepticism and just a touch of humor.

“You sent a blurry selfie of you and Matt to Keith but didn't actually SAY anything to him? You do know this is KEITH we're talking about, right?” He asked incredulously, sitting across from her in one fluid motion.

Pidge flipped up, hair flopping back down around her confused face. “Wait, how did you know about th—”

“—He didn't even realize it was Matt! How did you screw a picture up SO BAD that Keith couldn't even recognize someone who looks like he could be your TWIN?” Lance struggled valiantly to not collapse in laughter, and it was a battle he was losing.

“IT’S LIKE, KIND OF A JOKE BETWEEN US OKAY!” She exclaimed, face coloring slightly in either embarrassment or anger. “Anyway, that’s not important!! Have you been talking to Keith?”

Lance wagged a finger at her. “Trying to change the subject won't work on this one, Pidge. You did something dumb and I found out about it! I'm going to hold this over you for, like, ever.” He grinned at her smugly, leaning back into the couch. “And so what if I am talking to him? Not like that's illegal or anythin’.”

Pidge let out a loud _ughhhh_ as she scrambled up from her seat, whipping out her phone and tapping on it furiously as she stormed out of the room.

Lance allowed himself a moment to preen in the silence that followed.

 

-

 

keith: Hey, did Pidge say something to you about being mad at me? She sent me a blurry picture of her flipping off the camera followed by exactly 13 “Fuck you!”s.


End file.
